She's here!! And almost 3 weeks old already!

Chloe Merle Castillo was born on her due date September 21, 2010 at 10.26pm weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 in long!!!

She is absolutely amazing. Sometimes I just can't help but stare at her.

Here is the story...mostly I just wanted to write it down so I would remember it.

The labor and delivery happened sooooo fast! At 4am on the 21st I felt my first real 'contraction'. They were not too bad and happened every half hour from 4 -8am. Then they kind of stopped. Josh got up to go to class and I told him to keep his phone on him today because it might happen today. His typical response.."Yeah, sure. I don't think so.". My mom was home with me and I just wasn't feeling well. So we hung out in bed, napping and stuff most of the day. Then around noon the contractions started again every half hour. Then at 4pm they started every 10 minutes and by 4.30pm they were every 3-4 minutes! My mom actually called this one....she decided since it was speeding up so fast, that we should go in and have it checked out. So we called Josh and told him to meet us at the hospital. His response..."Are you sure you want to go in this early? Aren't people in labor for like 24 hours? We could be there FOREVER!" I think he could tell it was happening by the tone of my voice because I said "No, this is it. See you there." So my mom and I drove to the hospital. It was right during rush hour so it took over a half hour to get there. My contractions were every 2-3 minutes. It was a bit of an intense car ride.

We got to the hospital around 6pm. A nurse got me hooked up to the contraction and heart rate monitor for the baby, but then left because it was a shift change for the nurses. So we waited in the room for an hour. I was having really intense contractions every 2-3 minutes. I had no idea how far I had dialated so I made my mom go find someone to come and check me. Around 7.15pm my nurse finally came in. She went to check me and I was already at 6cm and my water broke everywhere! She was like....ok....we need to move you to another room, this is happening really fast! So it was kind of like the movies, lol. They threw stuff on my bed and the nurse and josh went running with me on my bed down the hall way to delivery room. I was really dying at this point because the contractions were so hard and fast. There was not really a break between them.

So we got to the new room and everything was a blur til I got the spinal block and he also put the epidural in my back. I finally had some relief, but they checked me and I had already dialated to a full 10 cm! The nurse said if they had induced me they would never have let the contractions get that hard and close together, but my body was doing it naturally! So with the spinal in, they got the room ready and let me rest for about a half hour....then I pushed for about 20 minutes...and then Chloe was born! From hospital admittance to baby born was about 4 hours! It was pretty intense!



Then we got to come home Thursday afternoon. Chloe is doing great. She only cries when she has a dirty diaper or is hungry. Now she sleeps about 3 hours in a row during the night. Score. My mom got to stay for a week and that was super helpful. I think we are getting the routine down pretty good. As of this last thursday she was already 8 pounds 9 oz! So little thing is already getting bigger! We love her so so so much. It is already hard to remember what life was like before we had her. Josh is so amazing with her. Always wanting to hold her, and sing to her. The pediatrician said we could already start some tummy time and on Friday....at less then 3 weeks old...Chloe rolled from her tummy to her side to her back all by her self!!! It was INSANE! I couldn't believe it. I think she will be quite the athlete.

This picture is from her "0" birthday party. The night after we got home from the hospital it was like 1 am and we were all kind of sleep deprived and slap happy...so we gave Chloe a birthday party. That's why she has a bow on her head. She is smiling in this pic I think! She must have liked her party.

My sweet baby.